Newhouse 4 1/2 find

This is my second year to go on a Merriam turkey hunt in Colorado. My brother was with me and sent me a text asking me what a Newhouse bear trap is worth. Jokingly I asked "why did you find one". He said "no I found us both one". He is not a trapper so to him they looked like bear traps. Close but technically not bear traps but I guess they were intended to be used for bear or mountain lion. One is more pitted than the other and both are pretty pitted on the bottom with the chains in poor condition. But still what a find. They were balled up and we had both walked within a few feet of them multiple times last year and this year as the were a few feet off the two track going up a canyon we were hunting. Man I would like to know the story of how them got there. After we were gone last year they had a fire and then a flood so it was pretty void of vegetation where the traps were at. You can't see in the picture but they but both had two drags each. I just got home and had to come back to work so haven't had a chance to clean them up. If they had any government base stamps I doubt that I will be able to see them. I drove my truck and paid all the gas as a trade for the traps. I'm going to keep one and give the other to my father-in-law that we were hunting on. I also took some pictures of what was probably the intended critters.

What a cool story!! Nice find!! Remember to clean them properly...... LOL

WOW!!!! That's a once in a lifetime find...

Am I seeing old bones in the one trap?

Can tell a bit about the traps from the pics. They appear to be Animal Trap Co traps made between mid 1920s and mid 1960s. The chains and drags appear original but the side of the Y chains with the snap may have been removed(not obvious in the pics at least). Others may be able to tell more.

The snaps are gone with one drag as a replacement and the second drag is on a longer chain. I'm not sure if that is normal or if the Y chains are normally the same length?

The two traps were also attached together mid chain with a piece of wire. I can only imagine the tangled mess that would create when something was caught.

Fairly common that folks who had no use for the Y chain setup would remove one side, remove the snap from that chain and use it to extend the other. Why do you feel that one drag is replacement?

Maybe not necessarily a replacement but in place of snap since each trap has two drags and no snap chain. I'm sure they are all original and correct but just not the standard one drag and one snap.

If each trap has two drags, one is an add for sure.

I like the beaver tail wallet in the pictures also. Where do you get them? Thanks Don

Look under the Craft Sales Forum for Randy Shuff. I just posted the mountain lion track picture to bring his post to the top.

Great find, post some pics once you get them cleaned up.

I'm not sure, but the jaws are open a little on the one trap as if something is wedged in it. I will inspect when I clean them up. My brother said they were all wrapped up together so they were not set at the time they were lost or left. He said they were setting up against a rock wall at the base of a big tree so maybe they would be easy to find if they were left behind. He wished that he would have taken a picture before he moved them. Like I said in the original post this area was part of the big fire last year then they got a flood shortly after so they were about half covered in dirt. Based on the rust pitting pattern I think they were basically setting on the ground or lightly covered until last year.

I finally got around to working on these traps this weekend. I bought a special can of penetrating WD-40 and also had a can of regular WD-40. I used both cans and was able to get the swivels freed up and all the chain links separated. One trap the jaws were open a little. My guess is maybe it was tripped with a stick or something and then it silted in with dirt that was holding it open. Once I cleaned the rust pitting and dirt out the jaws closed back. One base was pretty pitted but the one that was not as bad had a nice surprise. "COLO G&F"

My brother that actually found these works for the Oklahoma Wildlife Department. When I sent him the pictures he said that it would have been a lazy state worker that left them in the woods. LOL

Im a Colorado stamp fan. Keep that. CO stamps are getting harder and harder to find.

Most all of the State issued bear traps back in the day ended up in the landfill. I so wish they wouldn't have done that.

The story continues. We went elk hunting in the same canyon last week and my brother found two more NH 4 1/2s that match the first set. Looks like the COLO stamping is going to show on both of these. They have the twin drags just the same as the first two and were about 100 yards from the first set. They were half buried in dirt just like the first ones and are pretty crusty and rusty. It still makes me wonder why these were left behind. On the same ranch but not in the same general area, he also found a miners pick that someone dated to the 1880's. I found a rusty old Prince Albert can. LOL